Filmmaking Confidential

Steve Balderson

The Filmmaking Confidential podcast is the quintessential resource for independent filmmakers – from aspiring students to seasoned pros. Each episode is filled with invaluable perspective, secret tips, how-tos and general philosophy about making films, no matter the budget, no matter the location. Hosted by award-winning indie filmmaker Steve Balderson, the attention is focused on what it takes to be a productive filmmaker in an industry that is risk averse and locked in a world where rigid process seems more important than creativity. This is the podcast for anyone who has dreams and the determination to see them through. Each week we meet with filmmakers, writers, actors, artists and other notables ranging from Oscar and Golden Globe winners to obscure fringe creators.

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Top 10 Filmmaking Confidential Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Filmmaking Confidential episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Filmmaking Confidential for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Filmmaking Confidential episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Scream Queen Debbie Rochon

Filmmaking Confidential

01/26/21 • 46 min

By the early 1990s, Debbie was working with multiple theatre companies in NYC including The Tribeca Lab where she played multiple characters in Stephen DiLauro’s play The Secret Warhol Rituals. In 1993 Debbie began her career in radio co-producing and co-hosting Oblique Strategies on the terrestrial channel WBAI. 1994 was the beginning for Debbie to land lead roles in film. Abducted II: The Reunion would be the first and in 1995 she co-stared in her first Troma produced film Tromeo and Juliet co-directed by James Gunn and Lloyd Kaufman. This would also be the year Debbie would be given her first writing column which appeared in The Job Bob Report, published by Joe Bob Briggs. She would also pen for numerous genre publications including The Phantom of the Movies’ Videoscope magazine which she still writes for today. Of the multiple roles she would portray by decade’s end it would be Hellblock 13, co-staring Gunnar Hansen, that would begin the wheels turning for a new type of role she would soon be known for. During the 1996-1998-time frame Debbie would co-produce and co-host Illumination Gallery for the internet’s first on-line radio station Pseudo Radio.
In 2000 director Jon Keeyes cast Debbie in the now cult classic American Nightmare which garnered much acclaim with legit reviewers and audiences alike. Her role as Jane Toppan would solidify her as a go-to actor for roles of the off-kilter and intense kind. By 2002 Debbie began working for Full Moon Entertainment, starring in four feature films with the company. She continued to write for genre publications and contributed chapters to horror themed books. In 2005 Debbie joined forces with what was then known as Scream TV. The company bought Fangoria magazine and Debbie began producing short documentaries including Fangoria Presents Slither Behind the Scenes. In 2006 they launched Fangoria Radio for Sirius/XM where she co-produced and co-hosted the show with Twisted Sister front-man Dee Snider until 2010. The following year Debbie was granted her own column in the magazine called Diary of the Deb, the first column written by a woman for the publication, it was nominated for three Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards for best column, winning the esteemed statue in 2014. During this decade Debbie also gave critically acclaimed turns in works inspired by some of her favorite classical writers; The Tell Tale Heart (Edgar Allan Poe), Mark of the Beast (Rudyard Kipling) and Colour From the Dark (H.P. Lovecraft).
Debbie appeared on the VH1 reality TV show Scream Queens as a guest judge in 2010. In 2012 she served, with Mira Sorvino, Gabrielle Miller, Tamar Simon-Hoffs and Lana Morgan, as part of the first all-female jury at the Oldenburg International Film Festival in Germany. The same year Debbie had her directorial debut with the extreme body-horror film Model Hunger. ETonline.com hailed Debbie as one of the “40 Top Scream Queens of the Past 40 Years” in 2018. Debbie’s current writing column, Debbie Rochon’s Bloody Underground, appears in the Italian published magazine Asylum. She is currently acting in feature films, writing her book and prepares for

Get the Books:
Filmmaking Confidential
Accessing Creativity
How to Find Investors
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Filmmaker Ronni Thomas

Filmmaking Confidential

01/12/21 • 38 min

Like many film hopefuls, Ronni started making films at about 9 years old when his father bought one of the first camcorder backpack units that had come on the market. He remade classics such as Faces of Death and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with his Brooklyn neighborhood friends. Since then, his films have screed at festivals around the world as well as museums and institutions ranging from Carnegie Hall and The MET in NY to the Horniman Museum in the UK. They've been Honored by BAFTA, Tribeca Film Institute, Raindance Film UK, The British Independent Film Awards and many other prestigious venues. Ronni got his official start in film at Troma in 2000, producing DVD content for the legendary horror outfit. From there, he teamed up with underground maverick Lech Kowlaski (DOA, The Boot Factory) and together they made Hey Is Dee Dee Home with Punk icon Dee Dee Ramone. Eventually he found his place in short film and digital content working heavily with Morbid Anatomy and the now defunct Brooklyn Observatory. His award winning short narrative Radio Girl featured collaboration with long time composer and friend Stephen Coates (The Real Tuesday Weld) and The Witch director, Robert Eggers. His Midnight Archive web series went on to critical acclaim both on the small and big screens, garnering praise from Time.com to boingboing and io9, to Forbes magazine, before being co-opted for Discovery Channel's digital network. His short doc Walter Potter : The Man Who Married Kittens, would be nominated for best short at the prestigious Tribeca Film festival, Raindance Film Fest, and Hot Springs International and wind honors at Morbido fest Puebla, Mexico. His AMC digital series ‘The Broken and the Bad’ is a 6 film docu-series on the real-life themes of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul and features Giancarlo Esposito.

Contemporary Artist Austin Young

Filmmaking Confidential

08/23/22 • 49 min

Austin Young is from Reno, Nevada and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. The foundation of his career is from studying at Parsons in Paris. Early in his career, Austin transferred his interests from traditional portrait painting towards a long celebrated career in portrait photography. In many ways, Austin is more accurately described as an image-maker: his projects illustrate the sublime qualities of character that make celebrated people unique. Based on a nuanced visual language of pop-culture iconography, his trademark style and techniques have captured a broad palette of musicians, artists and celebrities including Debbie Harry, Leigh Bowery and Margaret Cho, among others. In multiple bodies of work, Austin confuses personality and identity issues in confrontational and unapologetic image making about people who often split gender roles, stereotypical constraints and socially-constructed identities.
Austin is co-founder and artist of Fallen Fruit, artist duo Austin Young and David Allen Burns, a contemporary art collective that uses fruit as a material for projects that investigate the hyper- qualities of collaboration.
“Austin Young reconstructs tropes of pop art and pop culture into alarmingly brilliant new icons” - Shana Nys Drambot
"Working with Austin Young is like being alone in a room with a spirit who wants to meet you. He is not interested in your mortality: he is interested in your immortality. [...] He reminds me of the great Hollywood portrait photographers from another era, of George Hurrell, in particular, who was interested in the painting, not the snapshot. There is always a place for the secular in journalism. Thankfully that place will not be in Mr. Young's studio." - Diamanda Galás
"Austin Young is the best artist working in photography today. His work captures beauty at its most vital, carnal, visceral, alive! His exuberant intensity is matched by his innate sense of balance and upmost respect for glamour, in all of its many decent and indecent forms. His work will be seen as important historical reference for our times, and his name will be legend." - Margaret Cho
"Austin's images are, like me, the best of both worlds. Flawless and perfect, they are dreamily artificial -- while somehow simultaneously remaining organic, genuine and very real." - Jackie Beat
“I was beyond thrilled when Austin Young expressed interest in photographing Peaches Christ, not only because I knew Austin would create a gorgeously iconic Peaches image (which he did) but because it meant I’d be included in a brilliant body of work I’ve admired for years. Austin Young’s subjects are my idols and his portraits pay glamorous tribute to the often over-looked world of dark divas, drag superstars, and underground film icons." - Peaches Christ
“I’m pretty unabashed in my enthusiasm for Austin Young’s work. I think he’s the most original photographer to emerge in America since David LaChapelle.” -Richard Metzger

Musician Kristian Hoffman

Filmmaking Confidential

07/26/22 • 63 min

Kristian Hoffman ran away from his boyhood home in Santa Barbara, California, to New York City where he and his high school friend, Lance Loud, formed a band called The Mumps. This was quite soon after both had made dramatic appearances in what is now known as the first reality TV series: PBS' award winning "An American Family".

Flourishing in the New York club scene in the late '70s, Lance and Kristian became obsessed with the New York Dolls and lead to Kristian drawing the infamous "Bendover Girl" which was included as an insert in the Doll's first LP.

While still performing as Mumps, Lance and Kristian subsequently appeared in a show called "New Wave Vaudeville" , produced by Ann Magnuson, who was to prove a life-long collaborator with Kristian. Thus they met met the headliner Klaus Nomi, the eccentric legendary German counter-tenor mutant glam virtuoso visionary. Kristian approached Klaus Nomi about forming a band. Kristian's collaboration with Klaus included writing several songs for him, including "Total Eclipse."
Kristian made his mark on rock and roll history as the first musical director for chamber pop singer Rufus Wainwright's touring band, has played keyboards and written songs for the atmospheric torch band Congo Norvell, has produced, toured with, and written songs for punk/cabaret singer Abby Travis, toured and recorded as keyboardist for El Vez, the Mexican Elvis all over the U.S., and toured for five years with and played on several albums with Kinks founder and lead guitarist Dave Davies.

Kristian's third solo album, called & because it consists mainly of duets with other musicians (including Russell Mael of Sparks, Rufus Wainwright, Maria McKee, El Vez, Paul Reubens, Anna Waronker, Lydia Lunch, Stew, and Ann Magnuson), was released to great critical acclaim. "Uncut" Magazine called it a "spectacular, operatic art rock power-pop album." Aquarian Weekly called it a "flawlessly crafted, ornately embellished pop opera," and the L.A. Weekly said "& is the record that every fan of the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Kinks and great songcraft in general has been pining for. Frighteningly Excellent!"

As for where this multifaceted singer/songwriter, musician, poet and artist will be headed next, it's a safe prediction that he has a surprise or two in store.

Brian Sonia-Wallace "The Poetry of Strangers"

Filmmaking Confidential

04/13/22 • 41 min

Before he became an award-winning writer and poet, Brian Sonia-Wallace set up a typewriter on the street with a sign that said “Poetry Store” and discovered something surprising: all over America, people want poems. An amateur busker at first, Brian asked countless strangers, “What do you need a poem about?” To his surprise, passersby opened up to share their deepest yearnings, loves, and heartbreaks. Hundreds of them. Then thousands. Around the nation, Brian’s poetry crusade drew countless converts from all walks of life.
In The Poetry of Strangers, Brian tells the story of his cross-country journey in a series of heartfelt and insightful essays. From Minnesota to Tennessee, California to North Dakota, Brian discovered that people aren’t so afraid of poetry when it’s telling their stories. In “dying” towns flourish vibrant artistic spirits and fascinating American characters who often pass under the radar, from the Mall of America’s mall walkers to retirees on Amtrak to self-proclaimed witches in Salem.
In a time of unprecedented loneliness and isolation, Brian’s journey shows how art can be a vital bridge to community in surprising places. Conventional wisdom says Americans don’t want to talk to each other, but according to this poet-for-hire, everyone is just dying to be heard.
Thought-provoking, moving, and eye-opening, The Poetry of Strangers is an unforgettable portrait of America told through the hidden longings of one person at a time, by one of our most important voices today. The fault lines and conflicts which divide us fall away when we remember to look, in every stranger, for poetry.

The Enigma

Filmmaking Confidential

11/10/20 • 38 min

The Enigma, completely tattooed from head to toe in blue jigsaw puzzle pieces, is a legendary performer cultivating audiences for over 20 years around the globe. A founding member of Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, The Enigma has toured with Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, Korn, and opening for David Bowie. His Prime Time television acting debut came in 1995 on the X-files. His feature film acting debut came in 2005's Firecracker starring opposite screen legend Karen Black and rock star Mike Patton (Faith No More and Mr. Bungle).
Coming from a background of classical piano and stage magic, The Enigma's live show includes the best possible traditional stunts. Being an innovator of the bizarre, The Enigma also produces stunts none has ever seen. All of the original music backing the show and the odd humor allow audiences to breathe and adds to The Enigma as an identifiable character. The Enigma has been on the cover of many tattoo magazines, setting the example for extreme body modification. Featured twice in National Geographic Magazine, 1995 and 2004, The Enigma gets hard news stories about his shows published in advance of his debuts. The Enigma has not stopped covering new ground, breaking into the comic book arena as well as monster truck rallies and school anti bully lectures.

When you think of extreme, wild, out of this world entertainers, The Enigma stands out as the leader of his art form. He is an historic legend in body modification, circus sideshow, and tattooing, and leads the pack in that “do it yourself” renaissance style. As a refined talent of over 20 years in the business you can see that he continues to amaze and inspire. The Enigma's cult status and huge following will grow organically over the years as he constantly gives to the art world.

Film Set Etiquette with Elizabeth Spear

Filmmaking Confidential

03/23/21 • 46 min

Join film directors Elizabeth Spear & Steve Balderson as they discuss the sometimes insane behavior and on-set antics of other Directors, Primadonnas, Assistant Directors, Explosive Producers, Egomaniacs, and how one can navigate all this and still manage to have a creative, warm, and welcoming film set.
Elizabeth Spear is an award winning filmmaker from Austin, Texas. She earned her M.A. in Media and Communication from European Graduate School in Switzerland and has studied under Terrence Malick, Wim Wenders, D.J. Spooky and Slavoj Zizek. Her films have screened all over the world including France, Germany, Norway, Egypt, Ireland and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Awards
HELL TOWN (2015) Best Feature, Crimson Screen Horror Film Fest
ROUNDBALL (2014), Best Romantic Comedy, WorldFest
THE PEOPLE YOU KNOW (2012), Best Feature Film, 60 Degrees Norway FORWARD/BACKWARD (2009), People’s Choice, Different than What?
HANGING (2002), Grand Prize, 72HFP Gene Siskel Theater

BONUS: "Alchemy of the Spirit" release week revisits cult icon Mink Stole

Filmmaking Confidential

01/17/23 • 33 min

To celebrate the release of our film "Alchemy Of The Spirit" this week we revisit Mr. Balderson's discussion with cult icon Mink Stole! Mink co-stars in "Alchemy" alongside Xander Berkeley and Sarah Clarke
Watch "Alchemy Of The Spirit" on Prime Video:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0B8RLM38M
Alchemy of the Spirit stars Xander Berkeley (Candyman, “24”), Sarah Clarke (“24”, “Covert Affairs”), and cult icon Mink Stole (Female Trouble, Pink Flamingos). The film premiered in Europe at Fantasporto in April, 2022, picking up a nomination for Best International Feature, and went on to screen around the globe to critical acclaim, including the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival (taking home Best Feature Film Science Fiction), the Atlanta Underground Film Festival (taking home Best Director) and the International Sci-Fi & Fantasy Film Festival (dominating the awards with Best in Show, Best Director for Balderson, Best Actor for Berkeley, and Best Actress for Clarke).

Mink Stole is best known for her work in the films of John Waters. Her film career began as a party guest in Waters' film Roman Candles. Since then, she has appeared in all of John Waters' feature films from Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Desperate Living, Cry Baby, and Serial Mom (opposite Kathleen Turner) to name a few. She has appeared in a number of films and television shows, such as Stuck! directed by Steve Balderson, and is the lead singer of Mink Stole and Her Wonderful Band, of which musicians Kristian Hoffman, George Baby Woods, and Brian Grillo have been members.
For more information, visit:
https://www.dikenga.com/alchemy-of-the-spirit
(repeat episode)

Australian Filmmaker Adrian Powers

Filmmaking Confidential

03/02/21 • 45 min

Adrian is an Australian film director, screenwriter and editor. His film BROLGA is a short film which has just completed a successful international festival run, and has been released for streaming online. The response to the film across the world has been wonderful, and the story of the project's journey to the screen is both unique and full of interesting lessons for those interested in indie filmmaking.
Adrian's work has screened in cinemas across the globe, including the 69th Venice Film Festival, where his film ‘Scruples’ screened as part of a competition spearheaded by Sir Ridley Scott, Michael Fassbender and YouTube, and where Scott commented that Adrian and his fellow finalists were "all clearly talents for the industry to watch". In 2013, Adrian completed work as co-director, co-writer and editor on the WWI feature 'Forbidden Ground', which was released worldwide (including distribution in the U.S. via Lionsgate).
He has edited thirteen feature films, including 'Skin Deep' (officially selected for the 2014 Austin Film Festival), ‘Rip Tide’ (officially selected for the 2017 Sydney Film Festival) and ‘Romance on the Menu’ (released by Netflix in 2020), as well as the acclaimed TV series ‘Starting From...Now’ and ‘A Chance Affair’. In 2020, Adrian co-wrote four episodes of the upcoming Netflix series, ‘Dive Club’.
As both an editor and director, Adrian has also worked on hundreds of commercials, music videos, corporate videos and documentaries. He has produced content for some of the biggest brands in the world, including Apple, QANTAS, TED, Universal Music, Salesforce, Woolworths, The Guardian, ING, Westfield, Lonely Planet, Volvo, Telstra and Google. His latest short film, ‘Brolga’, which he wrote, directed and edited, has been successful at festivals both at home and internationally, and has garnered multiple ‘Best Film’ and ‘Best Director’ awards.

Filmmaker Bruce LaBruce

Filmmaking Confidential

03/29/22 • 44 min

Bruce LaBruce is an internationally acclaimed filmmaker, photographer, writer, and artist based in Toronto. His latest film is "St. Narcisse" a comedy-drama starring Félix-Antoine Duval as a pair of identical twins who were separated at birth and did not previously know of each other's existence, but who fall in love and begin a twincest relationship with each other after being reunited. The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival.
LaBruce's earlier film Gerontophilia won the Grand Prix at the Festival du Nouveau Cinema in Montreal in 2013, and Pierrot Lunaire, which won the Teddy Award Special Jury Prize at the Berlinale in 2014. As a visual artist he is represented by Peres Projects in Berlin, and has had numerous gallery shows around the world, the latest of which, called Obscenity, a photography exhibit, caused a national ruckus in Spain in 2011.
His feature film L.A. Zombie was notably banned in Australia in 2010 after having been programmed at the Melbourne International Film Festival. It later premiered in competition at the Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland that same year.
LaBruce has written and directed three theatrical works at the Hau Theater in Berlin, including a production of Arnold Schoenberg’s avant-garde piece Pierrot Lunaire at the legendary Hebbel am Ufer Theater. He adapted the latter project into an experimental film, incorporating footage from the stage production combined with additional material shot on location in Berlin. He has also directed theatrical works at the Theater Neumarkt in Zurich, Switzerland, and he participated as a director in the Hau Theater’s ambitious X-Homes project in Johannesburg, South Africa.
LaBruce has written a premature memoir called The Reluctant Pornographer, and has had two books published about his work: Ride, Queer, Ride, from Plug-In Gallery in Winnipeg, and Bruce(x)ploitation, a monograph from his Italian distributor, Atlantide Entertainment. LaBruce has contributed to a variety of international magazines, newspapers and websites as both a writer and photographer, including index magazine, for which he also acted as a contributing editor, Vice, The National Post, Purple Fashion, The Guardian UK, and many others. He has also been a regular columnist over the years for Eye, Exclaim! and Vice magazines.
Additionally, LaBruce has directed a number of music videos, two of which won him MuchMusic Video Awards in Canada. Most recently, LaBruce has been honoured with film retrospectives at both TIFF/Bell Lightbox 2014, and at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, 2015. The MoMA retrospective featured all nine of LaBruce’s features as well as a program of short films. All of the films have now become part of MoMA’s permanent film collection.

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FAQ

How many episodes does Filmmaking Confidential have?

Filmmaking Confidential currently has 53 episodes available.

What topics does Filmmaking Confidential cover?

The podcast is about Filmmaking, Film Interviews, How To, Diy, Podcasts, Movies, Film School, Arts, Hollywood, Tv & Film, Cinema and Performing Arts.

What is the most popular episode on Filmmaking Confidential?

The episode title 'BONUS: "Alchemy of the Spirit" release week revisits Dr. Joseph Suglia' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Filmmaking Confidential?

The average episode length on Filmmaking Confidential is 44 minutes.

How often are episodes of Filmmaking Confidential released?

Episodes of Filmmaking Confidential are typically released every 7 days.

When was the first episode of Filmmaking Confidential?

The first episode of Filmmaking Confidential was released on Nov 3, 2020.

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Filmmaking Confidential

Steve Balderson

Top 10 Filmmaking Confidential Episodes

FAQ

How many episodes does Filmmaking Confidential have?

What topics does Filmmaking Confidential cover?

What is the most popular episode on Filmmaking Confidential?

What is the average episode length on Filmmaking Confidential?

How often are episodes of Filmmaking Confidential released?

When was the first episode of Filmmaking Confidential?

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